Former director of the Baptist Student Union for USM, Lloyd Lunceford, was named as the state director of the Mississippi Baptist Collegiate Ministry state department. He served as director since 1991, and his previous associate director, Kris Walters, has taken his place.

Lunceford said that his new position will be focused on “basically giving leadership, encouragement and support to the directors of the baptist student unions on these campuses”. This position focuses on running over 20 different BSUs throughout the state.

“It’s the Mississippi Baptist Collegiate Ministry, which is the state office that all of the BSUs, there are 20 BSUs in Mississippi, and those 20 BSUs relate to this office,” said Lunceford.

Though Lunceford has no significant plans in the works as these are his first few days in office, he said his goals are the same.

“I can tell you the state goal is the same as our local goal, in that our purpose is to help students in Mississippi know Jesus Christ and to mobilize them to make his name known around the world,” he said.

Walters said that in September the current director announced his retirement and the state executive director, Jim Futral, offered Lunceford the position. Lunceford traveled to East Asia to perform missionary work and accepted the offer when he returned. Walters was named the USM chapter director after serving as the associate director for 15 years.

“March 8, they approved Lloyd to be the state director of the BSU, and after that they approved me to take Lloyd’s place,” said Walters.

Walters also said that their main focus is to lead people to Christ using the current BSU building and also going out into the communities.

“It makes it easier, it helps having a spot on campus and it makes us visible […] We can’t just say, ‘Everyone come in and meet!’” Walters said. “Our students have to go out and reach out to people to try to help them see the Gospel message.”
Walters said he is excited to be working as the director for the USM BSU and to be able to work with the students.

“I am very excited, and I know that when Lloyd was here we worked really well together and he is going on to do bigger things for Mississippi BSU,” he said. “And I welcome the new experiences and new people.”

Some students are also excited about Walter’s promotion.

“I think he’s going to do a great job as the new director because he’s been here as the assistant director since I was a freshmen and I have always looked up to him as a leader and as a role model,” said Brandon Vineyard, a BSU member.